


The List

by sailorkittycat



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: Babysitting, Cool OC, F/M, Leather Kink, awkward Tom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 21:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8684854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorkittycat/pseuds/sailorkittycat
Summary: Tom has been tasked with babysitting duty but he needs to call in the babysitter at one point





	

“All the numbers are on the fridge, including mine, Greg’s, Rose’s babysitter’s, the police, mum’s a-“

“Emma! I’m sure I can take care of Rosie for one night” Tom said, laughing at his sister. Honestly, what was the fuss about? Rosie was a little five year old girl; surely he wouldn’t have to call the police at any point during the evening. They’d watch a Disney film and she’d fall asleep and Emma and Greg would be home at half eleven, it wasn’t rocket science. Yet, Emma was giving him that look, that one particular expression that she would use when she was less than amused by Tom.

“It’s just in case” she said, casting one more look at the list of numbers she had complied “maybe I should add dad’s?”

Tom sighed dramatically and Emma shot him another look, but she left the list alone. Just in time too, Greg entered the kitchen with Rosie trailing behind him in her pyjamas patterned with little ducks.

“You sorted?” Greg asked, nodding at Emma and Tom.

“Yeah, yeah, the numbers are on the fridge, blah blah blah” Tom said nudging Rose, making her giggle, although the same couldn’t be said for her mother.

Greg ruffled Rose’s hair “you’ll be a good girl while we’re away, won’t you Rosie?”

“And you’ll take care of Uncle Tom for us?” Emma added cheekily, earning a sarcastic ‘ha ha’ from Tom and a nod from Rose.

Tom practically had to push Emma out of the door after that, he knew that she was still a little wary of leaving him in charge, considering he had never done it before but he was quick to remind her that if anything happened he would refer to the list of numbers on the fridge and all would be well. Greg simply laughed and put his arm around his wife, guiding her to the car, throwing Tom a wave before Tom closed the door.

They ended up watching Tangled, which Tom hadn’t seen but Rose knew all the lyrics and half the script too. Honestly, Tom was so absorbed in the film that he didn’t notice that Rose had fallen asleep, her mouth slightly agape and her little frame leaning against him. He carried her to bed carefully, not wanting to wake her up, before going downstairs and flipping through the channels to find something else to watch.

One cup of tea and half way through a Sherlock episode later, Tom hears a cry and a pitter patter of small feet rushing down the stairs. He immediately gets up only to have Rose clinging to his leg, crying.

“What’s wrong?!” Tom begins to actually think of the list pinned to the fridge seriously.

“There’s a monster under the bed!” More tears streamed down Rose’s face but Tom breathes a small sigh of relief.

“Monsters aren’t real, Rosie” Tom laughed, hoping to calm his niece down, but it only made Rose cry harder. After much cuddling and soothing, Rose finally calmed down enough to tell Tom about the monster under her bed.

“We need to call Alexis!” Rose urged, leaving Tom feeling more out of his depth than ever.

“Who?”

“Alexis! She fights monsters” Rose insisted and climbed off of Tom’s lap to try and reach the list pinned on the fridge but it was too high for her, so Tom had to get it for her. He tasked Rose with reading him Alexis’ number while he dialled, although he felt a little foolish taking orders from a five year old.

“Hello?” Tom almost froze when he heard her voice; he wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he saw the name ALEXIS (BABYSITTER) in Emma’s neat handwriting. Maybe an elderly woman, or a teenager, but Alexis sounded as though she was in between.

“Um, hi” Tom cleared his throat, trying to sound cool and collected “this is Tom, Rose’s uncle.”

“Oh, yeah, Emma said you might ring me” Alexis said and Tom almost felt annoyed that Emma didn’t think him capable, before he could stew any longer, the sound of Alexis’ laughter distracted him “I’m sorry, that must have sounded terrible! I just meant that I’m used to babysitting Rose, and she’s having the monster-under-my-bed phase right now.”

Suddenly, Tom didn’t feel so angry anymore “Well that’s why I’m calling see, Rose claims there’s a monster under her bed” he glanced at Rose who nodded with wide eyes.

“Can you come over Alexis?” Rose said loudly, making Alexis burst into a fresh peal of laughter that did nothing to calm Tom’s rapid heartbeat.

“Okay, I’ll be over in a little bit. I guess I’ve done enough work.” Tom was going to ask her what that work was but he held his tongue, thinking that it might come across as being weird, so instead he said his goodbyes and he and Rose waited for Alexis.

He amused Rose with a set of terrible jokes he remembered from Christmas crackers of the past, and tried his hand at impressions of the characters in the film they had watched, which worked a treat. A knock at the door had Rose scampering off, although she still struggled to open the door, namely because she couldn’t reach the handle.

A pretty voice naturally matched with a pretty girl. Alexis smiled, crouching down to give Rose a hug while Tom stood there gripping the door handle, watching as Alexis pulled away to run a hand through her hair, dark brown and pink at the ends. It looked rather fetching, Tom decided, as did her outfit which consisted mainly of leather, which really didn’t help calm Tom’s heart beat.

“So I hear you guys have a monster problem” Alexis said, winking at Tom and sounding every bit as kick ass as a heroine in an action film, or at least Tom thought so.

“Ah, well, yes” Tom stuttered “but Rosie will be able to tell you more about it.” He stepped back to let her in he noticed her messenger bag, slung over her body and the shiny, black helmet in her other hand. After watching all that Sherlock, Tom found himself deducing that she must have a motorbike, what with the helmet and all that leather.

“It’s under the bed this time” Rose said, holding Alexis’ helmet as she kicked off her boots which revealed a pair of brightly patterned socks which didn’t match “do you have the spray?” Rose asked, looking almost comically serious for a little girl.

“Spray?” Tom repeated, blankly.

“Monster spray, uncle Tom” Rose said expertly, pointing out the simple spray bottle with the words ‘MONSTER SPRAY’ scribbled on it.

“It’s the easiest way to get rid of the monsters” Alexis said, throwing Tom another wink when Rose wasn’t looking “can you take care of my stuff while I get rid of the monster?” She asked Rose and Rose nodded solemnly. When Alexis made her way up the stairs Tom went to follow but Rose tugged his t-shirt, stopping him.

“It’s best to wait” she said and Tom stared at his niece for a second before keeping still, he spotted Alexis’ messenger bag slouching with the weight of what looked like text books, but he couldn’t tell for what subject; the little blue, white, red flag on one of them gave him an indication though. They heard a loud thump followed by a ‘hey!’ and another thud and then the creak of the door opening. Alexis came down the stairs with a swagger in her step after slaying the beast.

“It was small and quick” Alexis said before flashing a grin “but I was quicker.” Tom didn’t use the word ‘cool’ very much but looking at Alexis, the hero of the night, he fig red she was the epitome of cool. The coolest. Alexis went on to reassure Rose that she had gotten rid of the monster and had checked for others, so that it would be safe for her to sleep. Alexis and Tom helped her back up the stairs and no more than ten minutes later, Rose had fallen asleep.

“I think a hero is deserving of a cup of tea” Tom said, trying to find an excuse for Alexis to stay and to his joy, she agreed. “It was quite a show you put on, it was very convincing” he complimented, handing her a hot mug as they settled on the sofa.

“Well, I have to get her to believe that I got rid of it” she shrugged “I’d hate to kill her imagination and dismiss her fears.”

Tom contemplated on this “that’s admirable of you.”

“What?” Alexis laughed “nah, I’m just doing my job.”

“Do you babysit fulltime or do you just do it on the side?” Sometimes Tom lacked subtleness. 

“Yeah, I’m doing my masters now, so I like to concentrate on that during the day and work at night” she gulped down the last of her tea “I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.”

“It makes sense” Tom concurred, remembering the books he had seen in her bag. He felt his cheeks warm when she wiggled out of her leather jacket, leaving her in a t-shirt with a band he had sort of heard of on it, and a pair of matte black leather trousers, that Tom desperately wanted to touch to find out whether or not they were real leather. He could only imagine what the contrast of the smooth dark leather and her soft brown skin would feel like, but he knew it would be creepy for him to reach out and touch her.

“So, Emma says you’re an actor” Alexis said, her bright, hazel brown eyes observed him with interest as he explained his career as concisely as possible.

“I’m probably best known for Loki.”

Her eyes widened “I loved Loki!”

His heart almost stopped when she said that “r-really?”

“Yeah man, I loved the outfit, also the character, but the outfit really got my attention.”

“I suppose all the leather would be appealing to you” he nodded at her attire, before feeling himself blush at the mention of leather but it only made her lips twitch into a feral grin.

“Oh, and the helmet” she peeked up at him through her lashes “I loved the helmet.”

Tom swallowed, was she hitting on him? It was as if his brain had some kind of glitch; he couldn’t formulate an equally flirtatious response and was left with reddening skin and a dry mouth. She didn’t seem to mind though, even going so far as to scoot closer to him casually, although the close proximity seemed to complicate Tom’s erratic heartbeat even further. 

“You’re cute but it’s late and I’m sleepy” she yawns for emphasis.

“You can’t drive while you’re tired” Tom interjects, not sure where he’s going with this “you should stay the night, or at least until Emma and Greg come back, then I can drive you home.”

Alexis regards Tom for a few moments and then smiles “okay, but you’re not getting anything from me mister.”

So she stays and they talk some more, and even catch the tail end of The Avengers playing on TV, which Alexis insists they watch. They end up moving closer together and when Emma and Greg do come home, they find Tom and Alexis curled up on the sofa asleep.

Emma scoffs as she and Greg make their way up to their room, after throwing a blanket over the sleeping couple “remember when he made fun of the list?”


End file.
